Making Humans More Enticing!?

[discuit]

Hello!

You see, I have always played pretty loose with racial restrictions (level limits, classes etc), but if i'm honest, this has lead to most of my players opting for non-humans, which i'm ok with mostly, but i was wanting to offer some incentive to play humans again.

The simplest thing i can think of is giving humans a built in XP bonus (on top of any Prime Requisite Bonus) to reflect their ability to learn quickly, adapt, and ascend to positions of power relatively quickly (for their shortish lifespans that is). I mean there must be some reason humans are dominant right?

So my question is, do i make this 5% or 10%? Thought? Feedback?

Cheers in advance.

[Red Baron]

To most players, an experience bonus just isn't as flashy as all the cool advantages that come with being a non-human. If you are removing the level caps from non-humans, I would place their hit dice lower than human fighting men and haver them fight as clerics.

[discuit]

A 10% XP bonus isn't insignificant though, i mean with a decent pre-req, as a human you can be earning 20% more XP per adventure!

I really want to avoid tinkering with HD, attack matrix's and such, i want to try and keep my DD games as loose and free as possible!

[waysoftheearth]

You could also consider racial factors in the use of reaction checks, and hireling loyalty. It might be reasonable (in a human-centric world) to introduce reaction/loyalty penalties for non-humans, and these things could be very influential in play.

Another option is, if you don't enforce level limits, you can still enforce HD limits. So a dwarf might be limited to 6 HD, and a halfling to 4 HD, even though they could still rise to higher levels.

[mgtremaine]

Put a bounty on Elf Ears, Dwarf Beards, and Hobbit Toes.... 100gp, 500gp, 25gp respectively. That should take care of it.

j/k

-Mike

[Porphyre]

If you don't want to mess with HD progression, but still use the D6 only as in DD, you could keep the same progression but give humans a re-roll for Hit dice: roll-two-keep-better for every dice or reroll every-one-or-two or roll-six-sided-one-counts-as-six.

[Porphyre]

Jun 2, 2014 7:47:52 GMT -6 waysoftheearth said:

You could also consider racial factors in the use of reaction checks, and hireling loyalty. It might be reasonable (in a human-centric world) to introduce reaction/loyalty penalties for non-humans, and these things could be very influential in play.

Or put even more stringent restrictions: make same-race hirelings mandatory (maybe dwarf heroes might be allowed one hobbit thief for every twelve dwarf retainers, thought...)

[Koren n'Rhys]

How about offering a +1 bonus to one, or even two, ability scores on top of a 10% XP bonus. It seems like a lot, but should push the players to give more consideration to humans over demi-humans.

[waysoftheearth]

Some other thoughts:

Humans can arrange their ability scores to taste as a reflection of their superior adaptibilty, but non-Humans can't,

Non-humans require double (or triple) XP after reaching their by-the-book level cap,

Dwarfs can only gain XP for gold, Elves only for magic-items, and Halflings only for food and luxuries,

Introduce ability score requirements for non-Humans (but not for classes). E.g., Halflings shouldn't have high str, and should have high dex; Elves should have at least average int, wis, dex, cha, and shouldn't have high con; Dwarfs should have high con but shouldn't have high cha. Or whatever else you think works best.

Make all non-Humans chaotic "enemies of the state". Elf means Drow, Dwarf means Duegar, and Halfling means "Goblin". There are clerical Orders who exist solely to hunt them out and destroy them. Works well in combination with the idea of bounties

[cadriel]

One very old school suggestion is to make up a "background" / "special ability" table - chock full of interesting minor bonuses for humans, from adjustments in combat, to additional ability score points, to starting with a material advantage (hireling or item), to minor special abilities. Maybe even make one per class. This is something that there was a lot of in the early days; you can find an example in the Arduin Grimoire. And then only give a roll to humans. Demihumans only get the stock abilities.

(As a side note, I'm looking over the Arduin list and it's wildly uneven; one roll gives "Born of a normal mother and an efreet father, you are 100% fireproof." while another socks you with "-4 chance of figuring out anything mechanical, -3 intelligence." Most try to balance things - "+1 with all axes, -3 versus all dragon 'breath'" or "Cold and poison competent, -3 versus magical disintegration." It's a bit of a crap shoot.)

[doublejig]

Many early publications contribute to the game table notion of human.  Implementor can tweak with these matters for different races. But, man can also be delineated in terms of his cosmopolitan nature, which then includes location and sanity.

Some choices by population:
Urban man,
Town man,
Rural man,
Rambling man.

Others by geography:
Mountain man,
Swamp man,
Desert man,
River man,
etc.

Others by sanity:
Enlightened man,
Gilded man,
Sane man,
Off-kilter man,
Marble short man,
Friggin' nutcase man,
Feral man.

Since, these guys can show up anywhere, it's always location, location, location.
Are these breakdowns useful enough to require comment, adjustment, or bonus?

[18 Spears]

Jun 2, 2014 7:34:52 GMT -6 discuit said:

A 10% XP bonus isn't insignificant though

Yes it is.

No offense, but it won't make any difference (mathematically speaking) until ~10th level. That's trivial in a game geared toward "name" level upper limits.

[Mike]

Jun 2, 2014 7:47:52 GMT -6 waysoftheearth said:

You could also consider racial factors in the use of reaction checks, and hireling loyalty. It might be reasonable (in a human-centric world) to introduce reaction/loyalty penalties for non-humans, and these things could be very influential in play.

Another option is, if you don't enforce level limits, you can still enforce HD limits. So a dwarf might be limited to 6 HD, and a halfling to 4 HD, even though they could still rise to higher levels.

This is the way I play - from that Frenchie game Epees and Sorcerie...

Each level above the cap they reroll HP unless they've hit max. and keep the better.

Works a treat.

[discuit]

I ended up going with a 20% XP boost and allowing Humans to re-arrange their stats at character generation (as per Simon's idea). Seems to have worked a treat so far.